Typical Night Routine as a Mom

I don’t know about you, but I find it very interesting to see how peoples day-to-day lives are. Everyone does things differently and it’s cool to see just how differently and also maybe even stealing a tip here and there!

So, I’m going to be sharing my night routine with Basil today! First, I’ll start off by saying that our typical night routine is a lot more structured than any other time during the day. Getting him to bed on time is essential to making sure we both get enough sleep and Michael and I get some time together without having to worry about anything but us.

5:30pm

No matter what time Basil goes down for his last nap of the day, whether it be at 5:15pm or 3:30pm, I make sure he is up at 5:30pm. I know, I know, never wake a sleeping baby, BUT I’ve found that this works best for our family if he is going to go to bed on time. Plus, even if he gets woken up he’s usually drowsy from this time up until he does get to bed.

So after he’s awake, I usually let him stay in his pack & play for a few minutes to wake up all the way or give him some toys and books to look at while I finish doing whatever I was doing during his nap.

6:00pm

Dinner time!!

After giving Basil a few minutes to wake up and have some playtime, I plop him in his high chair for his dinner. I just feed him some veggies and some fruit and sometimes some rice cereal mixed with formula kind of just depending on what we have on hand. I’ll usually give him a little bit of a bottle too depending on what time he ate last and how long his nap was (if he took one).

If he’s not getting sleepy yet, I’ll let him hang out in the high chair while I get something for dinner started.

Bath time

I’m not gonna lie here, I don’t give Basil a bath every night! I like to do it every other night usually, but I might change it up so there’s more time between baths with winter coming up so his skin doesn’t start to get dry. Basil loves baths. Like, seriously loves them. It’s the cutest thing ever how relaxed he is and he just enjoys being all cozy and warm in the water and watching the water come out of he faucet! I honestly can’t imagine how difficult it would be if he didn’t like baths – I’m assuming it would be something similar to changing his diapers now that he can roll over and thinks it’s funny to be a squirming wiggly little worm, but slippery and scary cause water.

Post bath

After his bath, I immediately put a diaper on him for obvious reasons. We’ve had too many accidents that end up with me sleeping on top of a towel! Then I rub him with lotion all over. This is his favorite part and it’s so funny watching him get so excited as soon as he sees me get the lotion bottle out!

Story time

After he’s all moisturized and cozy in his jammies, I choose a few books to read to him. Generally if he didn’t nap during the afternoon (boy are these rough days), I don’t read to him because he’s already tired and not too happy with me. I like to try to explain things to him in the books other than just the storyline – pointing out animals, colors, sounds, etc.

Bedtime bottle

After reading a few stories, Basil is usually pretty done with the day. We get all settled into the big bed with a bottle – usually 4oz-6oz. Today, for example, Basil was very difficult when it came to food and naps, so because he wouldn’t eat his solid foods dinner, I have him a 6oz bottle at bedtime to make sure he was still getting enough food to get him through {most of} the night. He’s a pretty good night sleeper; lately he rolls into his tummy and gets irritated later on in the night so I have to roll him back over, but generally he’ll sleep until about between 4am and 6am before I bring him into bed with us for some snuggles – or because I’m too tired to keep going back and forth from him to my bed, but I’ll let you be the judge of that!

To sum it up:

5:30pm – wake up and play

6:00pm – dinner time

6:20pm-ish – bath time

6:30pm-ish – lotion, jammies, books

6:45pm-7:00pm – bedtime bottle & sleep

he sleeps in the funniest positions sometimes and I can’t even handle this one hahaha

So, we aren’t very structured overall when it comes to our day-to-day life, but I do definitely notice a huge difference when we keep his bedtime relatively similar each night. It helps babies to get them in the rhythm of a routine – for example, when they go through the same motions each night they’ll quickly learn that ‘oh, food, then bath, then books means I have to sleep’ which is super helpful for me and other new moms I’m sure!

Side note: Michael gets home usually between 6:30pm and 7:30pm, and if he gets home in time to do any of these things before Basil goes to bed, he jumps in and does them so I can either just have a break or make us dinner. He works and goes to school, so he’s not home during the day, so any chance he gets to spend time with Basil – even if it’s just that few minutes before bed – I’d much rather them have that time together! Seeing them interacting is the absolute best thing of my life – Basil thinks his dad is so funny (which he is), and he constantly smiles whenever they’re together!

That’s all I have for you today!! If you have any requests for posts you’d like to see from me or need/have any helpful tips or tricks, I’d love to know in the comments!!

Thank you so much for reading!! Have an awesome rest of your week and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Published by Izzy Tehle

I’m a twenty-two year old mama to Basil, and fiancé to my amazing man Michael.
I’ve been lucky enough to be able to stay home with our son, and have the occasional free-time during Basil’s naps, so I decided to start this blog! I’ve always loved writing and photography, so I’m hoping this will help me experiment with those hobbies and give myself a creative outlet as well!
View all posts by Izzy Tehle